Not sure who negotiated the contract for Knox County to purchase land in Farragut for a new elementary school. See what you think.

(Note: The Board of Education already has approved the contract and it is on the consent calendar for Knox County Commission on Aug. 22. In other words, this is a done deal.)

  • The contract calls for Knox County to pay $100,000 per acre for roughly 32 acres off McFee Road within the town of Farragut and near the Knox/Loudon county line.
  • The Seller (Todd M. Scott and Timothy C. Scott) would retain roughly 65 adjacent acres on the eastern boundary of the school property and another 250 acres on the western boundary of the school property.
  • Knox County would build a public road off McFee Road accessible to the school and opening both tracts of the Seller’s remaining property for development.
  • Knox County would maintain dense landscaping on three sides to block views of the school from the Seller’s adjoining parcels.
  • Knox County agreed to pay standard closing costs, and not-so-standard repayment of any rollback property taxes owed by the Scotts. (The green belt plan enables farmers to defer certain property taxes until the land is sold.)
  • Inexplicably, the contract gives the Seller naming rights for the new school, subject to school board approval. Perhaps the Seller might name the new school Tim/Todd Elementary or simply Scotland. The athletic teams could be the Highlanders.

A new school is justified. Farragut Primary (K-2) and Farragut Intermediate (3-5) each has over 1,000 students.

Maybe Knox County got a good deal here. That depends on the per-acre price of undeveloped, land-locked property in Farragut. I remember when entire schools were built for $3.2 million. Now we’re paying that for the land.

Speaking of cost overruns, Knox County BOE has three, also on the commission’s consent calendar:

  • $14,980 increase to Johnson Architecture Inc. for the design of the Adrian Burnett Elementary School.
  • $14,675 increase to contract amount with Merit Construction Inc. for renovations and additions at Powell High School.
  • $813,833 increase to The Christman Company construction contract for new northwest sector elementary school.

Also, the BOE has approved spending $178,000 from fund balance for the Austin-East Magnet High School baseball field project. Earlier story here.

Also from the fund balance, $122,816.00 for the purchase of four 2022 Ford Transit Connect cargo vans as replacement vans.

Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.